Consolidated Kansas

[nick1234]

so I have done the dewormer now, and will do a second round in a a week or so...

but one of the other chickens is acting sluggish today now! Any other ideas?

How do worms kill hens? Is the damage already done? I'm afraid if another one dies, it will only leave me with one hen... and I've read a lot that it's not good to have only one.

We are freaking out and don't know what to do!

 

[coleco]

The best thing you can do is Not to panic. Its specific to the worm how they kill the chickens and it is not a fun read about how. They will act lethargic for a few days while they recover. The damage isn't already done, they can spring back out of it. I have a chicken that I call the ghost chicken because i swear it died, It was upside down legs up tongue hanging out, I picked it up and tried giving it water one last time and it magically revived and recovered completely.

Vigilance!

 

[chicken danz]

so I have done the dewormer now, and will do a second round in a a week or so...

but one of the other chickens is acting sluggish today now! Any other ideas?

How do worms kill hens? Is the damage already done? I'm afraid if another one dies, it will only leave me with one hen... and I've read a lot that it's not good to have only one.

We are freaking out and don't know what to do!

Are you sure they have no colds or congestion or anything going on? Just for general purposes I'd give them some pedialyte or make some salt, sugar, and vinegar water and give it to her with a dropper or syringe. The other thing that might work in a pinch is gatoraide mixed with some water. (not a citrus flavor.)
Worms block the digestive system so normal food can't work it's way through. They deplete the stores of necessary nutrients so they can't continue to thrive. They can also cause lesions which lead to infection or block airways so the chickens can't breath. Wish I were closer. I feel like I might be able to find the problem by looking at your chickens.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

The mixed turkey-peachick-guinea- and Java chick family free-ranging. The gobbler accepts them all as his own. Just try to get any one of the little ones, and you will have to deal with him first. There was a Muscovy duckling in this group, but I put him with some other Muscovy ducklings, because these are now roosting on roost, and it was on the ground by itself at night. There must be a universal language for poultry, because these always stay together, and don't mix with any of the other free-rangers.

 

[chicken danz]

That's quite a group Ralph. I know what you mean about the universal language and birds. I have some of the same species that don't mix cause they were raised separately.
Last night DH drilled post holes for my peafowl pen. He had some other things to do today so they weren't messed with until early this evening. One of my young geese had fallen in one of the holes and apparently been there quite a long time. It wasn't hollering or anything. Since it was about 2 1/2 feet deep and the hole is only an 8 inch hole he was cramped in there. We pulled him out but he isn't doing well. I put him back in the greenhouse with a little gosling that has some trouble keeping up with the others. So far he is just sitting. I sure hope he can get his legs back under him. Poor thing wasn't able to walk. He also didn't seem interested in eating or drinking. That sure isn't a good sign. So tonight the holes are covered. We worked on them some but didn't get posts set or anything. DH has to work the next four days so I hope I can manage to do a little by myself. It's really a two person job. I just hope it doesn't rain in the meantime and fill the holes.

 

[chicken danz]

I swear it's times like these I wonder why I have birds. I got woken up at 4:45 this morning. An owl had grabbed a baby duck and ripped it open. DH heard the commotion in time so they owl dropped the duck. So I got up and flushed it's wounds and treated it. It couldn't use the leg that was near the talon marks but I hope it can later. I think it wil recover if it doesn't get an infection or the leg won't work eventually. It went in the greenhouse with the two geese. I guess I need to drag my PVC pen over and open a panel on the green house so they can get outside a little. One more project to add to a never ending list.
I normally see the owl activity later into fall. I may have to start shutting up the ducks at night if the stupid owls are going to start grabbing them. I have several boys I need to butcher but I really didn't want to do it when it was hot. The owls have cleaned my meat supply out before. Of course they also tend to grab more ducks than drakes.
I lost my buff orp rooster to the heat so I had held back one for breeding later. He was pretty small and all of a sudden grown big. Much to my dismay he has a yellow color to his legs. Not sure why, but I can't use him as a breeder now. I have a friend in Missouri that has an extra so I hope I can get one from him. Thank goodness I'm not needing to hatch yet. I guess this young man I have will be butchered when I finally get around to butchering again.

 

[coleco]

What a bummer danz.
I'm wondering now if my guineas that decided to sleep on top of the coop last night survived the owl that is constantly hooting back there.

 

[Trish44]

The mixed turkey-peachick-guinea- and Java chick family free-ranging. The gobbler accepts them all as his own. Just try to get any one of the little ones, and you will have to deal with him first. There was a Muscovy duckling in this group, but I put him with some other Muscovy ducklings, because these are now roosting on roost, and it was on the ground by itself at night. There must be a universal language for poultry, because these always stay together, and don't mix with any of the other free-rangers.

I had some ducklings & goslings that were penned together for quite some time & they still hang out together even though they're penned separate at night. The ducklings don't seem to integrate as of yet anyway with the other group of ducks. The goslings however are starting to follow the older ones into the hoop coop at night, yay!

I swear it's times like these I wonder why I have birds. I got woken up at 4:45 this morning. An owl had grabbed a baby duck and ripped it open. DH heard the commotion in time so they owl dropped the duck. So I got up and flushed it's wounds and treated it. It couldn't use the leg that was near the talon marks but I hope it can later. I think it wil recover if it doesn't get an infection or the leg won't work eventually. It went in the greenhouse with the two geese. I guess I need to drag my PVC pen over and open a panel on the green house so they can get outside a little. One more project to add to a never ending list.
I normally see the owl activity later into fall. I may have to start shutting up the ducks at night if the stupid owls are going to start grabbing them. I have several boys I need to butcher but I really didn't want to do it when it was hot. The owls have cleaned my meat supply out before. Of course they also tend to grab more ducks than drakes.
I lost my buff orp rooster to the heat so I had held back one for breeding later. He was pretty small and all of a sudden grown big. Much to my dismay he has a yellow color to his legs. Not sure why, but I can't use him as a breeder now. I have a friend in Missouri that has an extra so I hope I can get one from him. Thank goodness I'm not needing to hatch yet. I guess this young man I have will be butchered when I finally get around to butchering again.

danz I'm sorry about your duckling. I have owls here but I have never seen one attacking anything. I did have one guinea disappear after moving it outside with the other males, but I'm not sure it roosted in the trees with the rest either so anything could have gotten it.

Yesterday was a busy day, we had to do our regular weekly shopping plus I had to go get feed when we got back from there & then chores. I was totally done in by the time I got in from chores. I'm still trying to get the parts of my veg trug primed as well & I still have the leg parts to go yet on the primer. It's taking way longer than I planned to get it all done. Then I still have to paint it yet.

 

[chicken danz]

Well it's been quite a day. I managed to get a chicken tractor moved and washed out. It's one I used when I had smaller birds. It was handy for broodies and chicks. But my birds are big enough now it's probably not a great size for them. I'm thinking I should sell it for a prayer and get it out of here.
Then I got all the posts for the new peafowl pen in the holes, and got them set and level using boards and C clamps. I was going to try to mix concrete but discovered that water had gotten in the gas tank and it needs drained and all cleaned out. I'm not educated as to how to do all that so it is going to be on hold until DH has time to do it. I don't know if I can lift those bags of concrete any way.
The duck that was attacked by the owl is doing great and if it weren't for wounds on his side you'd never know he was attacked. My goose that fell in the post hole night before last isn't doing as well. My turkey decided to breed her and tore her up pretty bad. Since she couldn't walk she couldn't get away. I found her in shock and bleeding profusely. I got her cleaned up and treated her wounds and put her in a heat pad. I tried giving her electrolytes and vitamins in water with a dropper but she wouldn't swallow. A few hours on heat and she drank from the dropper and then drank from the bowl. I just came in though and she had spilled all her water and was laying on a cold soaking towel. So I put dry bedding in and turned up the heat. She is in really bad shape so I don't know what her chances are. She still isn't able to walk yet.
I got three loads of laundry done today but haven't got the bedding back on the bed yet.
Then I decided to move the chicken house that we were going to replace the floor in. DH said to lift it by the roof. So I did but the forks went straight through the roof. Now I have to replace the roof as well. It had a couple of leaks anyway but that wasn't my plan right now. Other than figuring out how to get up there to rip off the old roof and replace it it shouldn't be that bad of a job. I am going to put a metal roof on it this time. It was a cheap package building thing and the sheathing was just OSB and there wasn't any tar paper under the shingles. I bought the building from someone and hauled it here.
After that I went to the new building and put together all my self designed waterer brackets and hung them on each pen. That did me in. Too much bending and working down low. But they are all done. The next step is to put all the pex up and put all the fittings on to go to all 14 auto waterers. That part has to be done on a ladder 10 feet in the air and I'm not sure my knees will support me climbing up and down a ladder a bunch of times. Plus I have trouble having enough strength to use the crimper, so up in the air that will be an even bigger problem.
I am totally worn out now. But it was a good day and I feel good that I got a lot done.

 

[sharol]

Quote:
You did get a lot done. It took me 3 days to finish the laundry because some joker turned off the end cycle buzzer, and I kept forgetting to move it to the dryer. LOL Of course it didn't occur to me to check before. I've been wrestling with the idea of adding another chicken house so that I could keep more chickens. Frankly, I don't sell eggs or chickens, so I just can't justify the expense for glorified pets. I'm going to have to sell some of these birds this fall or suffer the consequences during the winter. I'm figuring 18-20 max in the coop (sized for 12). They only spend nights in there except when we have really heavy snow. That means I have to make some tough decisions here pretty soon. Of the 9 orps, it looks like there are only 3 or 4 cockerels. So that means I have to either sell or butcher (don't want to do that with English orps) a couple of the pullets. The 6 Araucanas (4 girls) and 3 Breda Fowl (2 girls) + whatever my idiot broodies hatch this fall -- (runs from room tearing at her hair). Anyone interested in a pair of Breda Fowl or Araucanas? One of the boys has a home, but the other one is available. I say that lightly, but if I could move the 4 of them out along with the little roo that already has a home, that would get me down to a more manageable number. There is a magnificent black orp cockerel, a chocolate orp cockerel, and at least one Jubilee (maybe 2, but I can't tell yet on the other one) that also need rehomed. That would get me to 22. Sigh. Just call me the mini-chicken lady. Good thing I bought a small shed for a coop.